The prominent Bulgarian philologist Prof. Boyan Alexandrov Alexiev, PhD, unexpectedly passed away on December 26, 2017.

Having dedicated his life to university teaching, academic research and translations, he left unremitting values to science and succeeding generations.

Boyan Alexiev was born on August 20, 1949 in Sofia. From 1963 to 1968 he studied at the English Language High School in Sofia and in 1975 he graduated English Philology at the Sofia University. Following, in 2005 he defended his PhD thesis on Contrastive aspects of terminological metaphor. In 2012 he was elected Full Professor in Applied Linguistics.

He accomplished study visits to the Universities of Birmingham, Manchester, Brighton, Montreal, Long Island, etc.

From 1977 to 2000 he was a lecturer in applied linguistics at St. Ivan Rilski University of Mining and Geology in Sofia, and since 2000 - at the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy - Sofia. At both universities he held the position of Head of Department of Applied Linguistics and Language Learning.

He was married with two children and three grandchildren.

Boyan Alexiev was author of more than 70 scientific publications – monographs, terminology dictionaries, textbooks, articles and papers all of which are highly esteemed both in Bulgaria and abroad. At present they are being quoted and used by numerous scientists.

His academic efforts were devoted to the unexplored, difficult to explain and debatable topics where he always offered convincing solutions through an original reflection on the unity of ideas and practicality.

The largest share of his research was in the field of terminology. His concept of terminology as a system of concepts emerging in connection with the organization of knowledge (e.g. “Terminology as organized knowledge” – 2011) was innovative. The model of the conceptual structure of metaphorical terms, of the metaphorical conceptualization, of its cognitive typology in the direction of tertium comparationis in the study of terms in a comparative aspect is reasoned and innovative (e.g. “Contrastive aspects of terminological metaphor”, 2000; “Towards an experientialist model of terminological metaphorisation”, 2004, “Tertium comparationis for contrasting metaphorical terms with their equivalents”, 2004; “Functional appropriateness of the translation equivalents of metaphorical terms”, 2005, etc.).

Following, the scientist elaborated on the model by spreading its scope and effect over all types of comparative terminological research (e.g. “The Conceptual Structure of Terms as Tertium Comparationis in Contrastive Terminology”, 1992, “Terminology as Organized Knowledge”, 2010). On these grounds he also developed a very appropriate and convincing methodology for teaching terminological metaphor (e.g. “How to Exploit the Terminological Metaphor ESP Classroom Activities” (1998).

An especially important contribution to the development of terminological theory and practice is B. Alexiev’s “Knowledge-Oriented Terminography” monograph of 2011. Here he elaborated the general theory of terminography and at the same time rendered it a vivid applicable tendency because he modeled the practices and offered examples for creating bilingual terminological dictionaries.

Stepping on the basis of integration between two fields of science - terminology and organized knowledge, the scientist discovered the common aspects to give him grounds to decide on a remarkable terminographical project, interdisciplinary knowledge-oriented. In this sense, the heuristic value of this formulation has to be noted on a methodological basis, since it is precisely such elaborations which evoke new ideas in scientific progress, to mutual complementarities of the various sciences and collaboration between specialists.

To the term “terminological knowledge item” he rendered the meaning of a sound foundation for a terminographical model for elaborating vocabulary description. Thus, the scientist did not only remain within the theoretical insight, but also derived the types of units of knowledge that need to be developed by the head term entry. And along with them, by summarizing the three main aspects of the entry, he covered the entire information spectrum expected from the terminological glossary.

Another very significant contribution is of methodical and methodological nature. Going deeper into the essence of the term (i.e. the unit of knowledge) and highlighting its main characteristic (i.e. the belonging to a certain system, organized at both the conceptual and the linguistic level), B. Alexiev proposed a methodology for compiling a bilingual terminology glossary that consists of 4 clearly structured stages.

In relation to resolving translation problems, B. Alexiev proposed one more notable idea that translation should be based on such a contrastive analysis where the properties of the term and of the terminological collocations form system networks.

An on-going engagement of the scientist and lecturer were always the terminological dictionaries (e.g. “English-Bulgarian Dictionary of Mining and Geology” 1998) and subject textbooks with a focus on terminology (e.g. “English for Students of Mining and Geology”, 1985, “English in Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy”, 2011).

B. Alexiev also paid special attention to issues of translation and transcription of English terms into the Bulgarian language (e.g. “Terms of English Origin for Naming the Chronostratigraphic Units in Bulgarian Geological Terminology”, 1988).

Boyan Alexiev will remain a scholar of international prominence, due to his scientific achievements and also due to his contacts with scholar terminologists from all over the world. He shared his teaching experience and scientific achievements at numerous home and international scientific forums. He participated at numbers of scientific conferences with papers of his own.

The diversified portrait of the great scientist cannot fail to include a few words about his teaching activities, since from the first to the last day of his professional career he was a lecturer who cordially and devotedly taught his students scientific, professional and human values.

Boyan Alexiev passed away unexpectedly, without being able to bid farewell to the people whom he loved and who loved him. But he shall remain in our hearts. We will remember him as a remarkable scientist with his pioneering thought, a talented researcher, a well-intentioned man, a bright and easy-going personality.

A deep bow to the bright memory of the scientist, lecturer and personality of Prof. Boyan Alexiev, PhD.